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RecWater, New Colors and New Applications

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Recasens is proud to introduce four new colors to our popular RecWater fabric line: Blue, Burgundy, Forest Green, and Linen. These fashionable new colors are in stock and available for immediate delivery.

Made of solution-dyed acrylic fibers with PVC coating on the underside, RecWater is completely waterproof. The color matched PVC coating is formulated to achieve perfect adhesion with acrylic fabric so that it does not crack or peel and has excellent dimensional stability.

Treated to achieve good water and oil repellency, the coated side is engraved with a design that gives the PVC a fabric-like appearance. Being a heavier and waterproof fabric makes RecWater suitable for boats in more extreme weather conditions, but also makes it an excellent choice for awnings and canopies designed t in rainy climates. 

Contact Doug Dubay for more information on how to get your new RecWater sample card or to place your RecWater order today. 

 

5 Tips to Help You Sell More By Using Photography

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Nothing helps sell your next project like showcasing your amazing finished projects on your website or social media channel. Unfortunately, sometimes the photo quality doesn’t do justice to your work and can lead to more questions from your customer rather than excitement about what you can produce for them. Luckily, creating an outstanding project portfolio isn’t as difficult as one might think. Here are a few simple steps to consider the next time you’re out shooting one of your finished projects. Be sure to follow them, send us your pictures and story, and maybe your project could become one of our next customer stories featured on our site.

Use the Right Equipment. We strongly recommend using a good DSLR camera and tripod if at all possible to take your photos. The camera quality will be directly reflected in the picture quality, especially in the ability to correctly represent color. The tripod will help to minimize camera shake, which will provide a more clear and sharp image. While it may be tempting to take pictures with your phone, a good camera will give you more flexibility to capture a cleaner, crisper image and a tripod will ensure a stable shot. If you must use a phone, make sure you’re using only the most recent phones with the best cameras, and invest in a tripod to stabilize the phone.

Resolution. Always take your photos in the highest resolution possible. While this will equate to a larger file size and mean you’ll need more storage, it will also ensure that your picture quality will be top notch no matter the size or if you’re using your photo in a print ad or on the web. Today’s website visitor and online shopper want to see big, bold, beautiful images. Give them what they’re looking for with a high resolution image.

Lighting Is Everything. Chances are you’ll be shooting your project outside, so definitely consider the time of day for your shoot. High noon might have the most light, but that light can be very sharp and unflattering at some angles. Late afternoon and early evening are always great times for good lighting, but if your project has particular features such as dramatic night lighting or beautiful sun filtering, you may want to consider shooting at different times to make the most of those features.

Work the Angles. Just like you have a best side, so does your project. In fact, it probably has several, so be sure to capture as many angles and perspectives as you can. It’s always better to have too many shots than to wish you had taken more. Don’t be afraid to experiment with creative points of view to showcase different features, as this can be a great way to showcase hardware, designs and other unique features that you may not see otherwise. If you have a ladder on site, try setting it up to capture the project from a bird’s eye view.

Don’t Shoot Until the Set Is Ready. One of the most common problems with project photography in our industry is “tunnel vision” that focuses on the project item only, rather than the whole environment surrounding the project. That lack of full perspective means that your project item might look great, but the overall photo looks unprofessional, unattractive and unappealing to your prospective customer who views the whole area, not just your work. Remember that your project is part of the overall presentation of the building, boat or structure, and take the photo with that in mind. For example, if you’re installing an awning, step back and look at the placement of the awning on the full building. Make sure that the ladders, work vehicles and waste bins are removed from the shot. Look at the building as an approaching customer would, and make sure that the business looks appealing, including your work on the awning.

We hope you try some of these tips and send us your photos of RECacril® and RECwater® projects, we’d love to see the results!

ShadeTree Modular Design Shade Systems Rely on the Quality of RECacril

By Products, Webinar

For over 20 years, ShadeTree Canopies has been delivering creative, custom-designed shade solutions to its commercial and residential clients. Known for its hands-on, consultative approach, ShadeTree’s unwavering commitment to quality demands the use of high-quality products such as RECacril® in the fabrication of its shade solutions.

Watch our latest webinar to see how ShadeTree uses RECacril to its best advantage in one of its most innovative solutions yet – the modular design shade system.

New RECacril Floor Display Now Available

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Now you can give your customers a new way of experiencing the RECacril® difference first hand with our new RECacril Floor Display. This freestanding, fabric display has a space-saving design that allows you to showcase the entire RECacril collection of solid and stripe fabrics with swatches large enough to show the repeat.

Note how the larger samples on this display will allow your customers to get a real feel for the density and quality of the fabric which will surely translate to more sales.The new Floor Display is available for immediate shipping and can be seen at our booth at IFAI October 1-4.  Contact Doug Dubay for more information or to place your order today.

RECacril and Innovative Awning Cover, FLXguard, are a Perfect Match

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When two, longtime innovators connect, beautiful things can happen. That’s exactly the case when RV awning designer and manufacturer, Carefree of Colorado, found Recasens USA. With a history of innovation stretching back to 1971, Carefree is responsible for advances including the first truly automatic roll-up awning for recreational vehicles, one-touch awning operation, motion-based auto-retraction, mobile application operation and many more. With millions of awnings installed worldwide on every type of RV and specialty vehicle imaginable, Carefree has a rich tradition of quality, value, performance, and style that has established the company as a leading supplier of RV awnings offering the most expansive product line of any RV awning manufacturer in the world. Its most recent innovation, FLXguard Fabric Protection, is attractive, affordable, effective and works hand-in-hand with RECacril® fabrics. 

Read on to see how these two innovations work even better together. 

 DOWNLOAD THE CASE STUDY  >

Check out more examples of how RECacril provides quality solutions to fabricators and manufacturers from SewLong Custom Covers and ShadeTree Canopies.

 

Why Pinholes Matter — A Comparison of RECacril Against Leading Competitors

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Pinholes are very small gaps in the weave of the fabric that should be minimized for best results when working with a fabric. While they occur in most woven fabrics due to a variety of factors that range from thread count, loom type, loom set up and finishing tension, it stands to reason that the fewer pinholes a fabric has, the more desirable it is to work with for fabricators. Our lab in Spain recently did a comparison of RECacril® against several samples from our leading competitors and here are the results.

Immediately you can see that the density of RECacril is superior to that of the competition. Recasens uses a smaller yarn with a higher thread count which results in a denser weave. So even though the weight of the fabrics may be the same, RECacril has a higher density that you can see and feel. The difference is especially apparent when you compare the fabrics under high-intensity light and you can readily see the high number of pinholes in the competition’s fabric as compared to RECacril.

This multitude of small holes not only makes the fabric less effective at blocking UV rays, but it also negatively affects the fabric’s ability to resist water and oil. In essence, the more pinholes a fabric has, the greater its porosity. This is not a desirable trait in awning and marine fabric, especially for applications that need better water protection. When fabric is more porous, it’s prone to ‘misting’ which is when the impact of large water drops on the fabric causes fine droplets to blow through the pinholes.

While we’ve provided you with some cold, hard facts from our lab, we encourage you to try your own test by simply feeling the difference between competing fabric brands and comparing their pinhole density under a bright light yourself. While a less scientific comparison from our lab tests, we’re confident that your own tests will show the same results we’ve seen over and over again—proving that RECacril is the superior choice in fabric construction, providing you and your customers with the best quality solution for awning and marine fabric at an affordable price.

RECacril Outperforms the Competition in Fabric Stiffness Test

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In our continuing efforts to ensure the superior quality of our fabrics, we asked our corporate headquarters to conduct a side-by-side comparison of our RECacril® fabric against one of the popular competitor’s brands. Conducted in a state-of-the-art, quality assurance lab at our manufacturing facility in Barcelona, Spain, we performed a Hardness UR test on standard size samples of both RECacril and a comparable competitor fabric.

A fairly simple test, a metal pendulum is set in motion over the swatch. The number of passes it takes to stop the pendulum equates to the stiffness level of the fabric — the fewer passes, the stiffer the fabric. This test gives us the fabric’s Hardness UR rating.

RECacril outperformed the competitor’s samples time and again with Hardness UR ratings that were both higher and more consistent from lot to lot. Because our competitors manufacture products in so many different facilities, it is difficult to maintain consistent quality from lot to lot. In particular, consistency of hand tends to suffer. During our testing, RECacril not only came out on top with higher stiffness ratings — it was also more consistent in its Hardness UR rating from sample to sample. In fact, when testing samples of the competitor’s 60” marine acrylic fabric against our 60” RECacril marine fabric, our test showed an astounding 38% more variation in Hardness UR in the competition’s samples than our maximum/minimum hardness quality standard limits for 60” RECacril!

What does that mean for fabricators? All that variation from lot to lot can make it difficult to know the quality of fabric they will receive with each shipment, and inconsistent hand can make a fabric difficult to work with, especially on larger projects. RECacril is manufactured, from the spinning of its yarn to its final finishing and quality control, all in one location for consistent quality every time and with every roll. This, combined with intense quality review at every phase of manufacturing, ensures a level of consistency not seen in other fabrics.

Now you have proof in black and white — RECacril is consistently stiffer and maintains that stiffness better than the competition. For more information about how RECacril can help bring quality and consistency to your projects, please contact your Recasens distributor today to learn about our entire line of technical performance fabrics.

Why SewLong Custom Covers Uses RECacril for its Award-Winning Tops

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About 20 years ago, Justin Jones of SewLong Custom Covers saw the new Gemini hinge and it sparked a great idea. From that idea came the first iteration custom boat top for which SewLong is known. SewLong recently launched the third version of its popular folding canopy top, winning the coveted Marine Fabricators Association 2019 Excellence Award for Tops. Read the evolution of SewLong and learn why the company chose RECacril® as its exclusive fabric supplier for these award-winning tops.

Download the Case Study ->

Why RECwater is the Preferred Choice of the Marine Industry

Why RECwater is the Preferred Choice of the Marine Industry

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From the highest grade raw materials to the superior coating process, the attention given to every aspect of RECwater® is what makes it the impeccable product that it is. While many companies tout the superiority of their products, only Recasens can support the excellence of each and every step of our process.

Vertically Integrated Manufacturing and Unerring Quality Control

From spinning the yarn, to weaving, coating and finishing our fabrics, the entire Recasens manufacturing process is a masterpiece of vertically integrated quality control. As a vertically integrated manufacturing operation, we control the quality of the entire manufacturing process allowing us to offer a superior product at a better value than our competitors. We ensure the quality of our products even further by using only the most modern manufacturing equipment operated under strict ISO 9001 certified quality management systems and conducting frequent quality checks to make sure fabrics are woven to the highest quality standards.

Proprietary Processes and Superior-Grade Materials

The base fabric of RECwater is RECacril® which is made using our slightly smaller 20s 2-ply yarn which we pack tightly together for a tighter weave. This tight weave gives the fabric a naturally firmer hand, fewer pin holes, better overall coverage, and better natural dimensional stability. We then Blade Over Roller Coat RECwater with molten liquid vinyl and cure and heat set it in a finishing range. This process virtually eliminates the cracking and peeling one sees in our competitors’ fabrics where the vinyl is only bonded to the fabric surface.

A Sensitivity and Responsiveness to Market Needs and Demands

Recasens has not only spent over 100 years perfecting its products and manufacturing processes, it’s spent that time learning about the industries it serves and responding to and anticipating their needs. We offer RECwater in a standard roll size of 65.64 yards which is larger than many of our competitors. This larger roll means less end cuts and fabric waste. We’ve expanded our color and pattern selection, grown our distribution network and we continually keep our finger on the pulse of industry trends to ensure that we’re in touch with what our customers will be looking for next.

From Dream to Reality — Hear the Story of SewLong Custom Covers

By Products, Webinar

About 20 years ago, Justin Jones of SewLong Custom Covers saw the new Gemini hinge and it sparked a great idea. From that idea came the first iteration of custom boat tops for which SewLong is known. SewLong recently launched the third version of its popular folding canopy top, winning the coveted Marine Fabricator Association 2019 Excellence Award for Tops.

Justin recently shared his story with us and we captured the event to share with you. View it here to learn how that first idea became a product, and how it has evolved over time to become one of the top products in the industry. Learn why SewLong prefers RECacril® by Recasens USA as its fabric of choice, and why its tops are so popular with marine enthusiasts.

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